Travel insurance coverage: don’t let a well being situation derail your vacation plans | Travel insurance coverage

‘I nearly fell over when I saw the travel insurance quote,” says the retiree Bernie Lawrence. The 77-year-old from Fleet, Hampshire, says that after he developed heart problems, the cost of buying cover became “astronomical”.

Lawrence, who usually travels with his wife, Barbara, 79, says he had always been active and fit before suffering chest pains while out running in 2018. Nine days later, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery.

Before the surgery, the couple bought annual travel insurance policies for Europe for under £100. However, after the operation, and as they got older, prices began rising sharply.

In 2022 they paid £302 for the same level of cover. After he suffered briefly from atrial fibrillation – a common heart rhythm disorder – and was placed on an NHS waiting list for an echocardiogram, they were quoted £1,200.

“I just couldn’t consider it,” he says. “All I was waiting for was for them to tell me something I already knew: that it had gone and probably wasn’t going to come back.”

Unable to attend months for NHS affirmation, he paid privately for the scan.

Once he had the all-clear, his journey insurance coverage quote went to £584. The couple paid £805 in 2024 after which £1,009 this 12 months for annual cowl earlier than a Mediterranean cruise.

While he says he thinks insurance coverage firms look on older folks as “a bit of a cash cow”, he provides: “You can’t really argue with them because they say: ‘Well, you’re 77 years old and you’ve had all these things in the past.’”

Medical payments

Despite by no means making a declare on his coverage, Lawrence believes it is very important have cowl. However, thousands and thousands of holidaymakers with pre-existing medical situations are planning to journey overseas this summer season with out insurance coverage, based on a survey by specialist insurer AllClear that recommended 18% of Britons will threat not shopping for cowl.

That will go away them susceptible to massive payments if something goes flawed. Two years in the past, insurers paid out £262m for medical bills for UK travellers who wanted emergency care or remedy whereas on vacation.

Some international locations such because the US and Canada cost lots of of hundreds of kilos for remedy for those who fall ailing, so it is very important discover the proper cowl, says James Daley, the founding father of Fairer Finance, a analysis and score company.

“Travel insurance can get very expensive if you’ve got a pre-existing medical condition,” he says. “But it’s incredibly important that you take out insurance that covers you for your condition – particularly if you’re travelling to countries like the US where there’s no reciprocal health agreement with the UK.

“If you end up having a medical emergency in the US without insurance, the costs can run into the tens and even hundreds of thousands of pounds.”

Buying cowl

The value of a coverage shall be based mostly in your age, the situation, the place you’re travelling and for a way lengthy.

Price comparability web sites will let you seek for insurance policies even you probably have pre-existing medical situations, however it is very important examine the small print with the insurer earlier than you pay. It can be price checking something you declare to the comparability web site is included in your coverage particulars when you undergo to purchase the duvet with the insurer.

If you’ll be able to’t discover cowl by way of a mainstream comparability web site or by means of a conventional insurer, specialists corresponding to Medical Travel Compared and PayingTooMuch, or AllClear, may assist. You may additionally discover a dealer by way of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (at biba.org.uk) that can assist you.

When you’re making use of for canopy, an insurer will ask you to inform it about any medical points that you’ve got had throughout a sure interval – often the final 5 years.

However, the questions can return completely different lengths of time relying on the supplier and situation – generally protecting the earlier two years or 5 years, and even longer for severe diseases corresponding to most cancers or coronary heart illness.

If you had a situation and have recovered and never acquired any extra remedy since this time, then you do not want to reveal it.

You could contemplate shopping for a separate coverage for the particular person with pre-existing situations reasonably than a pair’s coverage or group insurance coverage, however Tommy Lloyd, the managing director of Medical Travel Compared, says his firm would typically suggest that all the travelling celebration is insured underneath the identical coverage wherever potential.

“This helps ensure that cancellation and curtailment cover applies consistently across the group,” he says.

“For example, if a traveller’s medical condition unexpectedly worsens before departure and the holiday has to be cancelled, a joint policy is more likely to provide protection for all insured travellers who are unable to travel as a result.”

He provides: “While cost is understandably an important consideration, travellers should be careful not to focus solely on the cheapest premium. The scope of cover and how it responds when travelling companions are affected by a medical condition can be just as important as the price paid.”

Common situations

Some frequent situations, corresponding to nervousness, hypertension, arthritis and bronchial asthma, solely add a couple of kilos to a typical coverage.

You could, nonetheless, face excessive prices if you’re nonetheless underneath investigation for a situation or ready for remedy.

Disclosing any medical situations is crucial, as you could possibly invalidate your coverage for those who don’t.

We sought quotes for a traveller with no pre-existing medical situations and in contrast them with the prices for a similar traveller with one in all a number of completely different situations.

Declaring nervousness didn’t enhance the premium on this instance, however the different situations did bump up the value. Being recognized with angina and having had a coronary heart assault had the most important impression of all of these we checked. This added about 50% or so to the value.

It could not all the time be potential to simply discover cowl, relying in your situation and the way current your analysis is.

In 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority launched guidelines for insurers to assist prospects with pre-existing situations. If an insurer is unable to supply cowl or if the premium is greater than £200, it ought to signpost you to a specialist firm that may provide insurance coverage.

An Association of British Insurers spokesperson says that when individuals are on the lookout for journey insurance coverage, “we recommend shopping around for a policy that meets your needs, and comparing factors such as trip length, destination and policy excess”.

The spokesperson provides: “Improving access to insurance is a key priority for our industry, and we continue to engage with members and stakeholders on this issue.”

Our value examine

We checked costs for a 57-year-old traveller taking a seven-night journey to Spain utilizing the Medical Travel Compared web site.

We discovered that the impression of pre-existing medical situations on journey insurance coverage premiums can differ relying on the situation declared.

• No situation declared: £12.43.

• Diagnosed nervousness dysfunction, not referred to psychiatrist: £12.43.

• Diagnosed bronchial asthma, taking as much as two medicines for it: £14.65.

• Angina, one earlier coronary heart assault, no new signs, at the moment match: £18.76.

• Breast most cancers, final remedy three to 5 years in the past, given all-clear: £13.94.

Case examine: ‘It’s simply ridiculous’

The part-time parish clerk Ian Wardle, 68, from Hatfield Peverel in Essex, says he was quoted as much as £6,000 for journey insurance coverage after being recognized with non-Hodgkin lymphoma – leaving him questioning whether or not he may afford to go to his brother within the US.

Wardle was recognized with the most cancers in July 2020, through the peak of the Covid pandemic, after discovering a golf ball-sized lump in his neck. Scans and biopsies revealed he had 26 cancerous lymph nodes, with some “the size of an orange”.

Wardle underwent chemotherapy from September 2020 till January 2021, adopted by upkeep remedy till the top of 2022. He has since been given the all-clear.

Once he recovered, he and his spouse returned to travelling, together with journeys to the Maldives, for which he was capable of finding reasonably priced cowl.

However, when he tried to rearrange insurance coverage for a solo bike highway journey to go to his brother in South Carolina in 2024, he was shocked by the quotes given on comparability web sites.

“Some of them, even just for a week’s cover, were like £5,000 or £6,000,” he says. “I was just thinking: ‘No, I’m not paying that. It’s just ridiculous.’”

Wardle says the excessive premiums nearly stopped him travelling.

“It just put everything in perspective,” he says. “I just couldn’t justify spending that sort of money for a week’s trip.”

He discovered extra reasonably priced cowl by means of AllClear Travel Insurance and he says he was glad to name reasonably than shopping for on-line. “Being able to talk to someone was quite important,” he says. “There’s always a worry that if you don’t tick the right box or miss a detail, then they won’t pay.”

He now pays about £1,000 for an annual coverage that covers journey to the US.